Gods and Titans
by Aenigma Anima
Summary: Advent Evil: Every story must have a beginning...


**Gaija Ziro: Titans**

**Advent Evil: Shadows Approach**

**Written By: Aenigma Anima**

**Legal**

I do not own any characters or ideas relating to DC Comics, I only use them through fanatic entertainment. Though I do claim all characters relating to Gaija Ziro, I use them regularly for my own pursuit in making something out of my life.

**Opening**

…

**"F**ar better to think historically, to remember the lessons of the past. Thus, far better to conceive of power as consisting in part of the knowledge of when not to use all the power you have. Far better to be one who knows that if you reserve the power not to use all your power, you will lead others far more successfully and well."

**A. Bartlett Giamatti (1938 - 1989), President of ****Yale****University**

…

**T**he stars were silent and humble to submit to the vast shadows of darkness that surrounded their brilliant sparkle in the sky. Such a calm setting is pleasant to view from the space shuttle that lingered over the blue planet we all call Earth. Outside of the metal corridors was an astronautic operative that seemed busily at work repairing the faults of their craft. But taking his rest for the second, he turned from his task and glanced out to the quiet abyss from within the white suit and tinted visor. A gentle smile curled across his face while he sat and admired the scenic perspective he had from the reaches of the atmosphere.

"**I**t sure is beautiful out here…" His muffled voice echoed throughout the intercoms and hit the ears of his other teammates. Their patience was running thin by the way they continued to work inside with a playful smirk on their faces.

"Come on Jim, finish up out there so we can get some rest already. I want to get my sleep on before morning breaks," Another man cracked over the intercom while tuning the navigations.

"Yeah Jim, you'll get enough of that view inside as you would outside, now complete the repair before I'm forced to come out there and-" One of the fellow crew was about ready to jump out and smack him over the head, but his speech was stopped short when a blip sounded over the radar. "…What is that?"

"Heh. What's what?" Jim seemed a little confused toward his friend's question, figuring they probably found some old food in the fridge and were going to mistake it for an alien life form.

"Jim, get back in here, I'm picking up something on the radar… its strange… its small, but its moving at an incredible velocity."

**T**he other astronauts rushed over to the control center so they could get a look at the screen with the blinking light, and Jim tried to hustle his tools back into the kit he had brought out. But it was too late for him to get back inside and the object that was speeding across the radar was making its approach toward the shuttle. Noticing the light that was coming closer behind him, he glancing around in a frantic curiosity to see what it was that disturbed him.

"Get out of there Jim, get back inside!" They yelled over the microphone and trying to bring their friend back to grips with his body and out of the shock he was in. The blip now was in a blaring siren to indicate it was in danger of colliding with the shuttle.

Only seconds passed before the object shot past them in a clean miss, the vacuum of space made let no noise pass through their ears. But after its descent was followed a large gravity field that rippled through space, whipping the white craft with its ferocious force and sending it spinning out of control for a minute or two. The operative outside was caught by his grapple hook attached to the shuttle and was flung left and right with the ship.

**W**hen the crewmen seized control over the shuttle again, they panted with fear, beads of sweat fell off their face from concern. A man stationed in the control room scrambled to the panels and monitors, rummaging through the cameras and making sure they got a good glimpse of the thing that sped past them, "Did anyone see where that thing was headed? What's its trajectory?"

"Sir, we have damages on the stern side hull and leaking coolant, we're going to have to make an emergency drop back to the Earth and call for extraction." A woman yelled to the officer in the control room.

Another person looked out the glass window and tried to see where the fireball was at, then spotting it entering the planet's atmosphere, "I'm not sure, but I can tell you now its headed for homeland."

"We better inform the military over the matter, perhaps we'll be able to aide their efforts with whatever footage we recorded over the monitors." The captain announced to the others over the intercom, then crackled back over the microphone, "Jim, get back in here. Double-time. We've got to fall-back to the surface."

Trembling with shock and aching muscles, he twitched and managed to salute with a shaking hand, "Aye sir. Coming back in."

The object continued to drop down to Earth, as it struck the ozone it flared up and fragments melted away in the intense heat. But the threat remained clear, though a lot of the item broke apart in the sky, the rocky structure showed no sign of complete disintegration and would make it to the ground. One could only imagine what was in store for the inhabitants that encountered the shooting star.

**Segment I**

**_P_**_entagon_

**A** man adorned in an officer's suit with few stars and ribbons clipped to his chest, with papers in hand, ran down the polished corridors of the building. He was a very respectable black man, who appeared to be in his mid-thirties, with a clean shave and all. But his wrinkled expression even without flaring any smile or frown showed he was stressed throughout his years. Perhaps even a few gray hairs made the appearance even more reasonable.

Stepping through three bullet-proof glass doors with security card in hand, he swiped the plastic through each one and finally entered a dimly lit room where a few more decorated officials stood around a screen and gazed up at the analysis.

"General," The man stopped dead in his tracks with a squeak from his shoes and stood straight to salute the commanding officers. The voice he spoke with showed he had more than enough time in the training camps to imitate any drill sergeant's call.

They returned the salute and the general, marked with four stars across his shoulders, stood in the middle of the group. He finally responded, "What's the problem Lieutenant?" His gray, receding hair and wrinkled face furrowed with an idea he was receiving bad news.

"We have a situation sir," Pushing the papers from his hands in offer to the general, the Lieutenant tried to catch his breath, the mad dash from one end of the building to the other almost made him felt like passing out on the floor before them.

Picking the papers out of the Lieutenant's hand, the General scanned over the information and turned to look at the monitors with widened eyes, "New orders gentleman! Get our _eyes_ on the coordinates here, retrieve any records on the activity of the location roughly thirty minutes ago, find anyone who's leaking intelligence on the sighting… and get me the President."

**_J_**_ump__City_

**C**ars buzzed across the suspended concrete bridge and rushed to work as every day would go, trying to beat the rush-hour traffic and make a new record on their arrival times. The sun was just peeking itself out of the eastern horizon and let a few streams of light cast over the land. But just a few miles away stood a tall tower lingering ten stories off the small island it nestled itself on. The architecture of the pillar that stood on the top seemed to defy the rules of logic. Yet like the _Leaning Tower of Pisa_, it still was a fact that it kept its balance in the shape of a large T.

**O**n the rooftop of the giant tower, a girl stood, levitating a meter from the surface of the roof and sitting herself in a meditative stance. The hood of her blue cloak that was draped over her very pale and slender body was let down, it would have eventually get caught in the morning wind and flew off her head any way. Without a care in the world, she would chant three words to herself multiple times, in hopes of finding peace and tranquility for the rough days she and her friends would face, "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos…"

But her monotone voice was cut short, barely peeking one violet eye open to stare out at the environment around her. She waited for just a few seconds, as if expecting something to happen, then closed her eye and went back to her meditation.

Suddenly a thundering crackle screeched through the city and left a screaming ring in her ears, it was too much for her to bear and she had to muffle the noise with her hands. Finally opening both large violet hues, she began to wonder where that noise had come from. After the thought crossed her mind, a high-pitched whistle tore across the sky and was getting louder. Directing her attention above her, she noticed the clouds parted or were otherwise decimated by a small object that came plummeting from space and descended past the distant skyscrapers. It rocketed along the city airway and ran toward the far edge of town; such a fall seemed to last forever.

Disappearing in a desert-like field just a mile out of the city limits, the falling object vanished and never made a trace of its presence for the next minute. When that minute past, the sand began to boil and rumble until it shot up into the air and lifted fifty tons of dirt like a nuclear bomb had been set off. From her spot she could feel a dull reverberating thud vibrate the very air she inhaled before the sluggish boom came later.

**K**nowing this was going to be a problem later on, she let herself ease to the ground and pass through into a dark portal. Reappearing inside the tower, where four others gathered to figure out what racket had woke them out of bed.

Stretching his tiny arms, a green boy brought them back down to scratch his head. Those moping eyes showed he did not feel like doing anything at the moment, but the constant alert to danger had made it almost instinctive for him to get up. Dressed in a loose outfit of a black shirt and shorts, he spoke in his crackled morning voice, "Dude. Raven. What are you doing up there? Having a party?"

"'Something' landed just outside of town," Raven, the gothic girl who wore that blue cloak, informed the others of the situation.

It took a moment for the information to register through the mind of the black-haired boy. Still in his costume of green tights, red shirt, along with the black cape tied around his collar. The mask he wore over his eyes was just to make the outfit complete, but now they narrowed with suspicion. It seemed the boy had spent the entire night in his room, never taken to a moment's rest. With his encouraging voice, Robin, the Boy Wonder, rallied the others, "Sounds like trouble… Titans… let's go."

"Aww, and I was having a good dream too," Beast Boy, the quirky green man of the gang, slumped over and shuffled his feet back to his room to get his own costume on.

A cheerful girl flew over to Raven's side as the other two went back to get their equipment ready. Her orange skin seemed unusual to many people of the public. But it wasn't as unique as her emerald eyes, which were also settled not in a white shade, but in a lighter color of green. She had worn her short purple skirt, mid-riff shirt, knee-high boots, and silver armor adorned on her wrists, neck and shoulders. Basically, she was ready for any situation. And now, Starfire, as she had been named, asked in her innocent voice to Raven, "May I accompany you to 'Scout' ahead?"

Raven slightly shook her head, not really sure how Starfire could keep such an optimistic attitude about some things. Even when the greatest disasters could occur, when the world could be coming to an end, Starfire would hold a positive side to the story. But these were not the times to quarrel with her thoughts, so Raven nodded in agreement, "Alright then, let's go."

"Hold on ladies, lemme come along too. I'm ready to get some action on," Cyborg grinned, the half man, half machine was ready for anything… except when it came to getting hacked from behind. He stood above the rest of the team with his tall height and muscle strength, and the blue with white armor shined brilliantly, like he had his robotic attachments polished overnight.

Raven nodded again to accept as much of the team as they could before they went ahead to make sure the current situation wasn't critical.

**T**he three members ran ahead of Robin and Beast Boy, checking to make sure they were able to make a plan in case they needed to take a strategic approach to the threat. Raven and Starfire flew over Cyborg, staying at a constant speed to make sure he didn't lose sight of them, but it was Raven who had to lead the way for now, since she was the only one who saw where the fallen object went.

"So what is this, 'Something'?" Starfire was curious as to what they were going to face, as she was normally curious about everything else on Earth.

"I'm not sure, it was just…'Something'. Maybe a meteor-"

"-But knowing our luck, it's not your everyday meteor," Cyborg finished Raven's sentence over the com link they shared. Yet Raven didn't deny Cyborg's judgment, their luck was pretty bad about these things, "It'll probably be some deadly creature that wants to take over the world."

**T**he smoke and sand from the crash was beginning to kick up throughout the streets as the sand rained down like water, and the smoke rolled over the city like a large thunderstorm. The winds flared with violent gusts from the aftershock of the object's descent, giving Starfire and Raven some difficulty flying. But just as the last of the sand fell, they were close enough and their vision was clear enough to see the ground zero. Both of their mouths dropped open, eyes widened with devastation.

"That is the meteor?" Starfire pointed over at the enormous crater that was the remains of the forsaken desert field.

"Let's wait for the others near the ledge," Raven pointed to the end of the crushed road as she dropped down, followed by Starfire, and they landed just at the end of the hole. Cyborg slowly made his way over to them, checking the database computer on his arm.

"Its unbelievable, sensors indicate it's over a kilometer wide," Punching away at the buttons, he checked over the crater to see if he could find anything else about it.

Robin ran up from behind and stopped so he wouldn't fall into the hole, "So what are you looking for in here?"

Landing overhead was a green colored crow that settled itself on the pavement next to Cyborg and morphed back into Beast Boy. Standing up and walking over to the hole, he scratched his head in disappointment, "Wow, looks like the satellite service on TV just hit rock bottom."

"Not likely, there's no trace of metal debris… its just a crater… a big hole," Cyborg knelt down and picked up a piece of rock, which immediately crumbled in his hand.

"Was there any sign of human casualties in here Cyborg?" Robin asked, a little frustrated over the whole thing being nothing more but a meteor crash. Sure a meteor that strikes a hole about a mile wide is something bad, but that's something they can't do anything about.

It took only a few seconds for Cyborg to finish his scan over the sight before his display came back with a negative beep, "Nope. Scanning shows that there wasn't a soul in sight for at least half an hour."

"So… there's not brawl goin' down with an alien baddie?" Beast Boy pouted his bottom lip as if he really wanted to get his morning exercise by fighting something from the change of sitting around and playing video games.

"No, just seems like a freak accident we really can't change," Robin explained. Turning his attention to Raven, he watched her as she peered into the pit of the crater, "What do you think Raven?"

"I'm…not sure…" Raven almost felt embarrassed, getting everyone out here for nothing, it was her hasty action that got everyone worked up after all. But she was sure she had felt something about this one, like the meteor was out of the ordinary… different.

"Great, now how am I supposed to get back to bed after being dumped out here for nothing," Beast Boy threw his arms in the air and frowned while he turned and got ready to go back.

"Hold on, apparentlyI'm picking upstuff in these rocksthat are abnormalfrom our Earth's natural alloys. Minerals I've never seen before, some my computer can't even log, these sediments came from some place freaky," Cyborg continued to rummage through his arm computer, trying to see if he could find more about those minerals.

"We'll look at it back at the tower Cy, for now, let's get home," Robin walked back down the street, the cloud of smoke made it very hard to see outside, almost turning morning back into night.

"So…what do we do about that big sandbox back there?" Beast Boy gestures behind him as he followed Robin.

"There's nothing that we can do, we'll just let the proper officials handle it," Robin replied. He paused to take a quick glance over his shoulder, wondering if they really should do something to help out. But then shook it off and continued walking, "Besides, we don't want to get in trouble with the authorities; they're as spooked as it is with the villains running around town."

Somehow, the Titans thought Robin was referring back to mistakes other teams had made that got them in serious problems with the local authorities. But the chances of a few little children being blamed for the formation of a crater outside of town were slim to none. Still, it seemed Robin didn't want to take that chance.

Everyone else trailed with him, as Raven lagged behind. It was a thought that went through her head, the thought that she knew something just wasn't right about the crater. Besides the fact that a meteor actually strikes the earth and makes such a big hole lately, but that was a minor issue for them, at least no one was harmed. Still, something got to her that flooded her mind with questions.

Turning back to direct her attention toward Raven, Starfire spoke with a sense of concern, "Are you coming Raven?"

"You guys go ahead and head back without me, I'm going to take a walk," Raven responded with subtle reassurance to her teammates.

Robin nodded with confirmation toward her statement as the remaining members hopped into the car and drove back to the tower. A bright red trail of light streamed behind them from the luminous glow of the tail lights. As it sped into the distance, leaving Raven's line of sight into the city's wakening streets.

**T**he pillars of smoke began to form bad enough that it started to absorb the surrounding clouds and soak in its moisture. The friction of the weather sent bolts of lightning across the sky and briefly illuminated the city from time to time.

Suddenly, Raven glanced up from the ground as the lightning streaked through the clouds and caught a shadow that was cast in front of her. Turning her attention to source of the organic shadow to an alley, she spotted a cloaked man returning a hidden gaze back at her. Something inside her told her to continue on and leave the alley dwellers alone, but something else tugged her to approach the person, as if attracted to the dark gaze of the figure.. But as she got closer, the cloaked man backed further into the valley.

"Wait." Raising a hand in hopes of directing the person who she pleaded to, it appeared normal introduction wasn't going to be easy. She saw him turn and walk down the dark path with his hands stuffed in his pockets.

That black cloak appeared to be old and torn, wrapped around the man in a fashionable manner. When the cloth caught sudden gusts of wind from time to time, the loose ends would flap in the air. But that large hood was always kept over his head, only revealing his bottom chin and mouth, which had a stern and serious look on his face.

Raven cut his pace short by stepping out of the shadows in front of him and blocking his path, "Hold on, I just want to ask you something." She tried to plead with him, to show him that she meant no harm.

The cloaked man grit his teeth with annoyance, showing he wasn't very appreciative of being stopped to answer questions. Hesitating a moment, he finally pushed her aside like she was a mere commoner and continued to trudge on his path.

Just being tossed aside like nobody's business was not in her spot for good feelings, raising her hands, Raven gained control over a large garbage container with her dark energy and blocked the exit with it. Relaxing her focus, she tried not to stress herself about the guy and try once more, "I don't want to hurt you, I just want to know why you were-" A quick yelp overcame her voice as she ducked and had the garbage container fly over her head and crash to the floor behind her.

The man's lips curled and gave a slight smirk as he continued to his venture through the city, bringing his hand back under his cloak. It would have seemed obvious that he was the one who tossed the container aside, how he did so was questionable at the time.

Standing up to him with a grim snarl under her hood, she raised her hands and took to the sky. Palms consumed in black flame while she lingered over the man dashing through the maze of alleyways. It was quite dark to see, but she was used to the shadows and the momentary flash of lightning helped from time to time. Focusing her energy on the nearby items littered through the passages, she flung them in his path with her dark flames and hoped it would block his way again.

But this was to no avail for Raven; the man lifted his hands and somehow catapulted the objects into the air. The thought had been made clear now that this was no ordinary human, if he was even a human at all. It both disturbed Raven and intrigued her to find out who he was and why he was running. Knowing by the skill of his unusual power, this person would be able to withstand some physical pain, she directed her hand toward the spare iron bars lying around the alley and swung them at his feet with her energy.

To her surprise the cloaked figure leapt onto the wall s of the narrow pass and hopped up to the rooftop. Before she could coordinate the bars up to his location, he jumped again and turned to face her, flying across the buildings at the same speed as her.

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" Focusing her strength, she released control of the bars and tore bricks off the nearby rooftops. Absorbed in the black energy, she unleashed her salvo of firepower with vicious force, almost making it seem Raven wanted him dead.

Drawing his hand out and exposing his palm, clothed in black gloves, he repelled the bricks and caused them to ricochet off a field of energy shielded around him. The clusters of rock shot back toward her, at a speed she was unable to stop in time.

Having to act quickly, she gracefully dropped below the spray of rocks, giving herself enough space to dodge by regaining control and slowing their pace. By the span of time it took Raven to escape her own arsenal, Raven noticed the man didn't run off, instead he waited with his arms folded over his chest.

**H**e watched under that silent hood without saying a word, but she could feel his eyes piercing at her. What was his problem? Was he just toying with her? Why didn't he just run off when he had the chance? Many questions fogged her mind, something Raven knew she had to get a hold over. Too many questions, too many emotions, it would only cause trouble in the end for both of them. Taking a second to clear her thoughts, she inhaled and chanted her meditative phrase, trying to regain her composure before continuing the fight.

Though it appeared the man had no opposition against it, he merely stood there suspended in air and stared at her from under that hood with a vigilant gaze. Raven figured she could come up with a better strategy then just going at him head-on, such a tactic hasn't been working lately, there had to be some other way to attack him. Just then, the idea came up in her head about this moment being an opportune time, it was odd why he hadn't struck first. Instead of him catching her off guard, she'll catch him; the man didn't seem to be paying much attention to her motions. Strikingly, he was keeping his eyes on hers, as if watching what emotion she was feeling inside.

Unlike the shadows of the man's cloak, Raven's allowed her eyes to greet the outside and express what little emotions she let out. Her beautiful violet eyes stared back into that dark abyss of his hood, like being paralyzed by the eye of a panther just before it struck its prey. Wait! No! She won't be degraded to his prey; she struggled to shake her head and wipe out the thought, managing to get her consciousness back. What if she was able to taunt him for distraction, talking didn't seem to work before, so it would be obvious now. Raven wasn't really good at taunts any way, there was no real point to them, what would she gawk at him about? Did she really see something she could use as a taunt? Would it make any difference to just anger him? Too many thoughts, so Raven decided she'll just go back to bringing up a conversation.

"So I take it you're the shy, quiet type? Alright then, I wouldn't expect you to heed my plea if that were the case," Raven said. Well if that didn't sound like a good opening line, she didn't know what was. She almost felt like gagging herself for coming up with something like that.

The mysterious man just kept a confident smirk on his lips, and because that was the only thing visible, that was the only thing Raven could go on. Standing ever so straight and commanding, the smirk slowly began to fade from his face and drop into another stone, stern expression.

Raven balled her hands into a fist, standing here doing nothing wasn't going to solve anything. And it seemed this man was waiting for her to attack again. But what about her plan? She'll be able to go along with it by trying a little acting skills. Raven's Hollywood action kicked into gear as her eyes widened with shock, grabbing hold of her side, she curled up. Followed up by a slight groan of pain, pretending as if those rocks from earlier hit without her knowledge. "But… how…?"

More shocking was the man's expression, shifting from a proud, determined stance, crippling into a worried and curious frown. He let out one hand like he was ready to rush over to her the minute he spotted critical injury to her. But the man still kept his distance, even despite the show she was displaying.

She figured her chance wasn't going to get any better. Now she would strike. Shifting herself over, Raven summoned a barrel from one the alleys and drew it behind the mysterious figure so it would be hidden from his field of view. Such furtive actions were a little low for her, but she had to get an idea of just how strong this guy is before making a better plan.

**Segment II**

**H**is motions remained still in the sky, only the loose ends of his cloak flapped in the constant gust of wind that blew over the buildings. The suffocating smoke was now beginning to moisturize and drizzle a light sheet of rain; streaks of lightning danced along the clouds and were followed by the crackles of thunder. Such water the smoke poured down had a light gray tone to it, such sky from a foreign object was tainted by the dirt it flung into the atmosphere.

The droplets fell onto Raven's curled body and glanced off or streamed down the field of energy the cloaked man was consumed in. Suddenly Raven yanked her wrist and summoned the barrel to strike the man in the back.

Yet this fighter's awareness was all too keen when his ears caught the taps of the rain trickling off the metal skin of the object speeding behind him. And his reflexes proved more efficient when he back-flipped in mid air, bringing out his hand in the instant and allowing it to glide along the smooth surface of the barrel before landing back down to his original position in a clean miss.

Raven appeared stunned once more, letting the barrel out of her control and setting it back to the ground below. Standing back up from her acting pose, she figured such reaction time was almost impossible to most people and yet this man pulled it off like it was no big deal. Who was he? Where did he come from? She was even beginning to question if he was the one who created the meteor, or if he was the one who WAS the meteor.

The man just folded his arms across his chest once more, but brought up one finger and swayed it back and forth, as if shunning Raven in disappointment for the cheap shot. A small grin drew on his face and was subliminally taunting her, intimidating her own abilities.

Her feelings and emotions were becoming harder to suppress under such stressing conditions, she began to grind her teeth to keep from screaming out loud in frustration. The black flames enveloped her appearance, the violet hues of her eyes were being engulfed in a pool of blood. Winds flared up and brushed her hood off her head, such emotion was becoming uncontrollable for her. Even worse was her tolerance to being known as interior to someone who seemed to boast his skill. Raven's thoughts were flooded with only one idea now… destroy!

**M**eanwhile, the other Titans had just reached the foot of their tower when they stopped and glanced behind their shoulders for a second, the rain was now beginning to fall on them. Beast Boy scratched his head, knowing something was wrong with the current picture.

"Alright, now where'd Raven go?" Beast Boy finally decided to bring up the question. Shifting his view all around their surroundings, he found no sight of the gothic girl. Sure, it was common for her to go off on her own like the others do, just to get out of the tower. But to just disappear without so much as an explanation? He knew she was normally quiet in her departures, but absolute silence was too freaky.

"I don't know, maybe she decided to go out somewhere?" Robin scanned the surroundings himself for a while, checking to see if she was really gone, "But… in this weather?"

"Should we go in search of her?" Starfire stopped inches from the ground with her levitation, getting herself under some place dry.

"Nah, I'm sure she found a cozy place to chill for the moment. Maybe one of those shops she likes to visit," Cyborg insisted, which could have been half true, since Raven was known for being the loner most times. But forgot the situation about Raven and jumped at the dry spot Starfire found to join her, huddling under what little space was left, "Now hurry up and open the door Robin, I'm gonna rust out here!"

Robin shook his head and unlocked the giant doors to the tower through the new pass code system, parting them open and gesturing Cyborg inside, "Should that be all today master Cy? Could I make your breakfast too?"

"That'd be great, thanks Alfred," Cyborg said with a grin. Feeling he had made his joke of the day, Cyborg went running inside to get the rest of his systems recharged before going after the Gamestation.

Robin smiled, knowing he would find some way to pull in the last laugh later. Starfire followed Robin as he went in to follow Cyborg upstairs and into the living room, leaving Beast Boy to wonder in last.

Beast Boy paused in his steps. Turning to look back out in the rain, a small frown of worry and concern slipped on his face. But knowing she would be back as the others reassuringly stated, he walked inside and let the doors close behind him.

**T**he length of Raven's cloak began to abstract and stretch out, black shadows like tentacles shot out from underneath and flailed around vigorously. She brought up a menacing grin on her face, wrapped in that blue cloth of terror, she only waited for the cloaked man to advance.

Raven, herself, tried to constrain the anger inside her so she may subdue it into another unconscious state, yet the feeling had been more than abundant within her body. It had to get out. If only she were to take the time this morning to relinquish the excessive amount of emotions in her magic mirror instead meditating, this situation would have never occurred.

But the man did not move though, instead he scanned her over once and tried to determine what had come over her. Glaring toward the sudden change in attitude, it was apparent that she was not normal, something had happened to her. It wasn't in his place of business, but he had to find out how this quick transition began. Readying himself for conflict, the man clutched one side of the cloth and swung it over his shoulder, exposing one side of the black trench coat he wore underneath. The coat was lined with reflective plates of worn armor clad around his torso and shoulder, at his side was a katana blade in its black scabbard.

The man judged not to use the sword yet, as he may not be required to move toward such extreme, violent measures. But his senses did detect two other entities, one of them resided near her spot, if not inside her.

Raven's patience was wearing thin with standing all day, her aggression built up and caused her to strike first. She let out a demonic growl before swinging herself forward, the dark tentacles of her shadows propelled at the man with relentless fury.

The cloaked figure reacted and slipped in between the whips with relative ease, then grabbed hold of them tightly and held on when Raven retracted them. He was jerked toward her, releasing his grip when they met face-to-face.

She slung a fist at the man's face, but was stopped short by his palm. Slugging her other hand back and striking again prove useless as it was halted with no direct hit as well, embraced by his other palm, he kept a rough squeeze on her hands to prevent her from pulling them out.

"I sense darkness in you… this is not the girl I was previously battling with," The man alas spoke with his deep voice, conversing to the thing that had been determined to have taken hold over Raven. Strangely, he brought himself closer to her, focusing his thoughts through a form of telepathy and dipping into the mind of the girl before finding the answer, "Ah, the demon, I did not know you were behind this. Hm, such a lowly creature is a nuisance to the scale of power my original enemies were compared in. And I sense your strength is not as great as hers out here."

Her alter ego whom was her father, Trigon, snarled at this remark. No one would mock the power of Trigon, all those who opposed would be destroyed! Struggling to pry Raven's hands free of the cloaked man, it appeared futile, but Trigon found other ways around this problem. The shadow-like tentacles below started trailing upward and tangled themselves around the man's legs.

The cloaked man knew it would be best if he kept his distance for the moment, especially when he was preparing to end this duel within the next minute. Releasing his clamp on her hands, he allowed the tentacles to whip him away. But before they are able to throw him around like a rag doll, he brought out his hand and charged energy into his palm. Launching an orb of white energy at the base of the dark tentacle, he caused it to explode. Severing the extending shadows from Raven's body and listened to the slight moan of pain the demonic voice let out.

Shifting back in the air, the attack made Trigon flinch with the agonizing separation of his extensions. Though he would be able to create more, every time they were destroyed it was like a fire cracker exploding on exposed skin.

The anonymous fighter simply leaned forward and suddenly his image vanished from the eye, moving at incredible speeds as to make him appear to have dropped off the face of the earth. Just as quick as he had disappeared, he had been relocated behind Trigon. With hands clasped together, he lifted his arms over his head to club out Raven's intruder.

But Trigon now had the chance to prove himself to the mysterious person, there was no room for mistakes or failures. Pushing Raven's body forward, he leapt into the air and thrust himself backward in a back-flip. Straightening her legs to kick back at the cloaked freak, perhaps it would teach him a lesson not to mess with the great Trigon.

Though it was a quick form of retaliation, it was not fast enough to compete with the man's reaction speed. The demon came within reach, but the man evaded the kick by leaping back one step. To compensate for this, the man slugged his hand back and formed an orb of white energy in his palm. The orb sparked bolts of violent, yet vibrant static. And then suddenly he threw his fist of charged power to slam the beast in the gut.

Simultaneously, Trigon charged dark energy in the palm of his hand and coiled it back to get a strong hit at the man. The black flames consumed Raven's body; most of the fiery anger was concentrated on that fist, blazing like the ecliptic sun. Slinging it forward, the possessor's strength was slightly good enough to give it an effective blow.

Their fists came around from opposing sides, until they were brought within contact. The fighter's hand struck the side of Raven's body, creating excruciating pain to Trigon. It was bad enough his presence had to be restricted to his daughter's body at the moment, but he also had to experience all the suffering the body also went through. In the same instant, Trigon's dark energy had struck the man also, yet the results were ultimately different. Instead of attacking the figure with a direct hit, his hand slipped around a reflective field the warrior created around his body. Such a force caused Trigon's arm to glance off the energy and slide in another clean miss.

A small smirk curled on the man's face once more, "Your daughter would have also calculated that mistake as well, but something like you would never figure it out. Your relentless attempt to cause nothing but chaos and destruction has clouded your judgment for far too long Trigon," the enigmatic fighter said. Which was true about most of Trigon's thinking, being a ruler of darkness for generations, he had lost all but the thought to destroy. "Which is why Raven also has more potential than you, I saw her energy level register in the same scale of power I had when I first fought the shadows."

Trigon wished not to listen to the man's constant ranting, but to continue on with the fight. While the fighter added his last sentence, Trigon shifted with his daughter's body and swiftly raced behind him. Bringing his hand back, Trigon formed black fire to add force when he backhanded the nuisance.

Just as time and time again, the man blurred from sight, reappearing behind Trigon with one of his own orbs bolting in his grasp. Sweeping it forward, he released the energy, though clearly without giving it much thought. An attack like this could decimate Raven's body depending on how strong she is, or in this case, how strong Trigon was.

None of that mattered either way, Trigon pursued on slashing his arm about, bringing it around almost in a full spin. The tail of black flames began to create a circle of fire. And within the other hand, the second flare of energy started to form, ready to go on the second wave assault.

Noticing the hand coming at him, he would not be able to make his second strike without taking one of Trigon's. Receiving a blow from Trigon may not have seemed troubling to him, but there were other situations that he worried about. So the man sacrificed his orb and curved his hand to collide with the dark fire.

The impact of the two charged attacks built up like a black bubble, until it finally gave away and exploded in a devastating recoil. Both fighters were knocked back, barely catching themselves in mid air and coming to a full stop.

**E**xhaustion, fatigue, all this was finally coming to them in the pause of the battle. The injury from the cloaked man began to tear away at the muscles in Raven's body, a tight jerk of pain screamed at the side waist. Meanwhile, the mysterious fighter seemed barely unchanged, but had a small bead of sweat roll from the cheek and stopped just short at his chin.

Tainted rain poured down upon the silent morning alleys, roads, buildings below, drowning the streets in black water. Pools of midnight shades, corrupting the images of the heavenly skies above with every ripple. Along the black reflection of the skies were two lone silhouettes standing out from the flash of lightning streaking across the clouds.

They were set apart from the rest of the city, their attention based solely on the other. Rain bounced off the reflective shield of the dark fighter, wind twirling around them, his cloak would sway to one side and continue to flash the shine of the battle armor padded over his torso. Trigon, possessor of Raven's body, stood fifty yards opposite of the man. Rain splashed and streamed down her face and body, drenching her in the wet environment. Technically it was still Trigon, but protecting to Raven's body is all that came to worry in the mysterious man's actions.

"Give her up Trigon, your time has passed, you are what once was, but now you are nothing," The warrior said, holding a stern expression on his face. This would be the one and only warning he gave Trigon, whether or not it is accepted will determine his final decision.

Of course Trigon had other ideas of the outcome toward this battle, one that had the finale revealing his victory. Drawing forward more dark energy from his daughter's body, he took control over miscellaneous objects from the streets, summoning them before him. Only a small devilish smirk grew before the items were hurled at the unknown man.

Raising his hands in front of him, the fighter brought more energy to generate a visible shield to deflect the numerous obstacles. One after the other, they all crashed into the shield of energy and were crushed underneath the speed and force of the assault. So Trigon's decision was evident, he would not relinquish his possession over his own daughter unless he were to be forced.

The sight of Trigon's first wave failing to the shield was a frustrating sight to him, defeating this foe would require even more energy to be tapped. If it meant overloading his daughter's body to the brink of destruction in order to see the enemy fall, then he would be more than glad to make such sacrifices. But he had to see his victory for his own pride and reputation.

"I'm sorry Raven, but this is for your own good," the other man silently spoke. Parting his legs in a defensive stance, curling his arms, he balled his hands into fists and charged up energy for one final strike. The surroundings around the being began to ripple, like the matter was being obscured and distorted by his offset of potentially infinite power. Before him, an orb of black formed gradually in the few seconds he had until Trigon would try to catch him off-guard.

And that moment was now. Consuming Raven in a void of dark fire, Trigon dipped into the well of strength which she would have never have known existed in her without unleashing her anger. It was time for his own finishing strike to end the battle, the stress of the power already began to eat away at Raven's body. Every muscle ached within, tenants would tear to pieces. In such strength her body was not prepared for, her bones would crumble under the high density of the ferocious energy set out by Trigon. "DIE!" Trigon bellowed as he charged at full speed, the cloak ripped inside the ball of shadowy flames, the rest would flail and sway viciously. He would throw his daughter's powered body at the man so that both would perish in the attack.

Even then, deep inside her unconscious, Raven herself fought against the shadowed bars and chains of suppression her father mentally shackled her to. No matter how much Raven tried to struggle at the grip of her father's rage, she could not regain control over her own body and undo the fate he was going to give her. Frantically clawing to seat herself back in consciousness, but now all she could do is watch in fear as it seemed… she would kill herself.

Suddenly, the fighter absorbed the necessary energy in time to retaliate against the suicide attempt. They came in mere meters from touching, he could just barely feel the intensity of the black inferno warming his face. But destiny ticked by second by second, and in that instant, time seemed to have stopped itself in the last few breaths…

The warrior unleashed a force of power that ignited like a spherical ball, engulfing him and Trigon in its blue hue of immeasurable strength. Sound muted itself in the event, only providing the tone of a low, distant ring, like a tuning fork being struck. Nothing more could be seen of the people fighting amongst the morning streets, as the sight would fade into the darkness of the thunderous smoke and clouds.

**Closure**

"…**R**aven…"

"…Raven, can you hear us…?"

"…Mm…What?" Raven could finally hear the muffled sounds of familiar voices, like voices being heard from underwater, but slowly coming back into focus.

"Ah, she is awakening. Raven, are you undamaged?"

"Hey Raven, where'd you put your cloak?"

"Uh… what do you mean?" Everything came to her as a blur, just trying to remember began to stab at her brain with a pounding headache. Her body felt like mush, the mere thought of moving a single muscle set off another spike of pain jabbing at ever fiber.

"Yo Raven, you don't look too good. Did you stay in the rain too long? Are you coming down with something?" the voices were becoming more defined in her mind as Cyborg's usual tone flooded back to her memories.

And the cheerful giggles of Starfire were hard to miss as she tried to cover it up with her mouth, "Perhaps she had 'one too many'?"

"That's another situation Star. Besides, I don't think Raven's much of the drinker… like she's even old enough."

"Hm… very funny…" She wasn't in the mood to listen to bothersome jokes, her headache was too much to bear as it was. But something did seem odd, where was she? It would be a while before she were able to open her eyes long enough to get a glimpse of her surroundings. Perhaps she was still in the…

Jolting up and sitting straight in her seat, regardless of the agony that followed, she pried her eyes open and checked to see if she were still where she thought. The alleys below, the flashes of a mysterious man, all of it rushed back to her before she had time to go through all her memories. But it wasn't the alleyways she remembered. Instead she could hear the soft play of classical jazz, the stage up front where a lone seat stood directed to a microphone. A small group of people sat around her in other tables, gossiping among themselves, relaying the latest news or laughing at the jokes they made. Raven was within the safety of a local café, seated near the back of the room with a tiny cup of cappuccino to keep her awake.

"But… where did that guy go?" She mumbled to herself, not aware that she was actually saying it quite loudly. Her violet eyes shifted back and forth, but not sign of her opponent was in sight.

"Um… what man are you seeking Raven?" Starfire joined Raven in her search along the group, not sure who to pick.

"Oh. Never mind," She blew it off, letting Starfire and Cyborg relax. Though questions started to add up in her head: Who was that man? What did he do to her? Did it really happen? How long was she like this? Well, she was sure she met him somehow, the tension in her body made no doubt about that. He does seem like a respectable person if he had taken the time to put her in a more comfortable place. But did he really do something to her while she was unconscious?

Raven took a quick glance down at her waist and rubbed her hand over her stomach. She could feel the tight pressure of bandages wrapped around her, concealed by her usual attire. The mystery man had actually tended to her wounds while she was unconscious.

A small flush of red fell over Raven's face as she pondered over this, embarrassed over the ideas. Hopefully he wasn't some pervert that did something else while he aided her. Yet… he didn't appear to be the type of person to do anything perverted, when she acted a false injury, he showed compassion for her even if she was an enemy. A man like that seemed more respectable than being reduced in her mind like any cheapskate.

Either way, he helped her out somehow, by also getting rid of her father's control over her. Whatever he did suppressed Trigon, her emotion of anger, back into its own unconscious state. If it wasn't for the man's skill, both of them would be blown to pieces.

All these questions urged her to make it her life-long task to find out who this mysterious guy was. But not right now, at the moment, all the reminders of this morning began to strain her brain. The last thing she needed to do was make it worse by wearing herself out. So she managed to lift the cup of cappuccino and take a single sip, before setting it down and glancing back up to her friends.

"Are you sure you're alright Raven?" Cyborg asked with a tone of worry.

Gesturing to the chairs seated around her, Raven offered her friends to sit down so they could try and talk about something else for now, something simple. With a light smile trying to lift on her face, she reassured them, "I'm okay now."

**A** convoy of trucks, hummers, all painted green and tagged with the insignia of the white star were seen roaring up from the flat deserts of a valley. They carried with them dozens of soldiers, suited in the latest of battle equipment. In the front of the line were the select black Hummers, turning to park, also signaling the stop of all other vehicles at the location. From inside confines of the black jeeps came a group of men adorned in lavish suits, decorated with stars, pinned with badges. They were Generals of the Army.

Stepping out of the vehicles, they walked in unison over to the ledge of a steep cliff. Before them was the crater that was imprinted on the earth like a new Grand Canyon, leaving little trace that the spot was once a barren desert. The men stood at the ledge with astonished expressions on their faces, dumbfounded as to its origins. Soldiers piled out of the trucks, searching for any civilians who may have tried to steal fragments of the site. One of the sergeants marched up to the generals and saluted with his rifle rested at his side, "What are the orders, sir?"

The commanding officers did not think long before coming up with a final decision on the site. Just a single glance at one another would confirm their approval, "…Lock it up."

**Fin.**


End file.
